Introverted male student and his journey to win over 15 billion VND in scholarships from the US

(Dan Tri) - Nguyen Thanh Long - a former 12th grade Physics 2 student at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted - received scholarships from 8 universities in the US, even though he rushed to prepare his application in just half a year.

Idolizing billionaire Jensen Huang, he chose mechanical engineering to catch the wave of physical AI

Male student Nguyen Thanh Long chose to study mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama (USA) with a full scholarship worth nearly $160,000 (equivalent to 4.2 billion VND).

Long was accepted into 8 universities in the US, with scholarships ranging from 60% to 100%, the total value of the scholarships for Long was up to more than 15 billion VND. Specifically, the universities that Long was accepted into include the University of Alabama, University of South Florida, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, University of Texas at Dallas, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Arizona State University and Texas A&M University.

Long and his family's orientation in choosing a school and major is not to pay too much attention to the school's ranking. Instead, the male student and his family focus on schools with strengths in engineering majors, ranked in the top 100-200 quality universities in the US, and these schools have policies to offer many scholarships to international students.

After much consideration, he chose to major in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama. According to Long, this major will help him make the most of his abilities as a physics major, as well as his love of physics and mathematics since middle school.

Previously, while following the news about the development of artificial intelligence (AI), Long learned that the world was about to enter the 4th phase of AI, which is "physical AI". At that time, AI will not only process abstract data, but also begin to grasp the basic physical laws in life such as friction, inertia, cause and effect...

“Physical AI” will be integrated into physical entities, specifically robots, to meet diverse needs, helping to solve the problem of global labor shortages. These are also predictions that my idol - billionaire Jensen Huang, founder of Nvidia Corporation - recently made.

Jackie Chan with his classmates in the physics major (Photo: NVCC).

From a student with "floor scores" to head of the physics department

When he first entered Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, Long admitted that he had many insecurities because his entrance score was just enough to pass the Physics major. This made him worried that he would be inferior to many of his classmates in terms of academic ability.

Fear made Long become withdrawn at the beginning of 10th grade. At the end of 10th grade, Long met a senior male student and was encouraged by his older brother to try many extracurricular activities because "if you don't try, you will never know what you can do".

After that, the school's vibrant extracurricular activities, as well as the friendliness of his classmates in the physics department, made Long gradually change himself. He wanted to step out of his comfort zone, try new things, and gain more experience to understand himself.

Long changed to really immerse himself in activities, and finally, he became more confident. In grade 11, Long was elected as the head of the Physics class, contributing to helping the class achieve impressive achievements in the school's collective activities.

Also in grade 11, after winning a silver medal in the national round, Long decided to go to Indonesia to participate in the Asian Math and Science Olympiad (ASMOPSS) as a way to increase his experience.

Although he did not win the prize, this important experience made him want to study abroad. At this time, Long decided to urgently prepare his study abroad application even though he only had about half a year left.

Jackie Chan with his mother (left photo) and homeroom teacher (right photo) (Photo: NVCC).

Use ChatGPT as a study assistant

I decided to start with the SAT, which is a standardized test used to assess students' readiness for college, especially at universities in the United States. Long prepared for the SAT by studying on his own through materials, attending extra classes at the center, practicing questions on the website... I prioritized self-studying regularly every day. In the end, I achieved an SAT score of 1490/1600.

Once he had determined an effective method of studying for the SAT, Long found that self-studying to prepare for the IELTS test became simpler. At this time, he confidently studied by himself through documents and practiced online. He listened a lot and read a lot to increase his vocabulary and language reflexes.

Long often uses Chat GPT to self-grade and self-correct his own writing. In the IELTS test, Long achieved a score of 7.0. He decided to stop at this score, not to continue studying for the test, to spend time preparing for other activities.

For his studies in class, he studied hard to improve his average score to 9.6/10. To improve his grades at school, Long was determined to get high scores in his tests, which required the ability to concentrate during his studies and the ability to do well on tests.

I focus on studying in class, trying to grasp the knowledge as much as I can. When I review the knowledge for the test, everything will be much simpler.

As for extracurricular activities to increase the weight of the profile, Long has actively participated in many activities before, so he has no shortage of interesting things to introduce about himself.

In his essay submitted to the schools, Long wrote about his transformation, from a shy, self-conscious, and introverted teenager, he gradually became confident and proactive in participating in class and school activities.

Long said that in the future, he wants to become more confident, know how to acknowledge and appreciate his own efforts, and reduce the psychological pressure he puts on himself.

Ms. Pham Vu Bich Hang is a physics teacher who has been Long's homeroom teacher for all three years of high school. Ms. Hang recalls that in the first days of 10th grade, Long was quite shy and timid compared to his classmates. But then, he gradually integrated into the class and the Physics major through many extracurricular events of the school.

Long shows dedication to the group, he has good leadership ability. Besides, Long also tries very hard in studying, achieves the title of excellent student and has an impressive ranking in class.

Ms. Hang assessed Long's journey during his high school years as a journey of the desire to conquer challenges, constantly learn and improve himself. What made Ms. Hang especially impressed with Long was his modesty, understanding ability and subtlety in expressing himself to friends and teachers.

The University of Alabama - where Jackie Chan will study for a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering (Photo: UA).

Keep your spirits up with... iced tea on the sidewalk

Long shared that he is a person with a fairly stable mentality. No matter what problems he encounters in his studies and life, he can always encourage himself to slowly find a way to overcome them. His habit is to sit and drink iced tea on the sidewalk whenever he feels bad. Sitting still and observing the street and the people passing by helps him feel relieved and then calmly handle the problem.

Long doesn't like to share much. When he encounters difficulties, he likes to sit and ponder the problem he is facing to figure out how to solve it.

Long's way to relieve stress is to sit and drink iced tea on the sidewalk (Photo: NVCC).

Long sets up timelines and to-do lists to solve problems. He breaks down tasks and prioritizes them.

Making reasonable action plans is the secret for Long to reduce stress in studying and life.

Long finds that when awarding scholarships to candidates, American universities pay attention to the diverse experiences of the candidates.

From these experiences, candidates will have a "stronger" profile and essays to help the admissions board see their strengths.

For students seeking to understand themselves, Long believes that we can only understand ourselves through experience.

For example, finding ourselves passionate and interested in something also helps us understand more about our abilities and personality.

American universities are very interested in this, they believe that hobbies and interests say a lot of important information about an applicant. For those who are also conquering scholarships to study abroad, Long advises you to spend time thinking about your hobbies to find meaning and purpose from them.

Essentially, the journey to maturity is a journey of experience. The more we dare to experiment, the more we will understand our own abilities and be surprised about ourselves.

Long believes that on the journey to maturity, there are many hidden factors waiting for us to discover. Long's advice for "juniors" who want to study abroad with scholarships is: Be bold in experimenting, we will understand ourselves and grow from there.

Long sees himself as on a journey of self-discovery, he believes he still has untapped potential. In the future, he will experience more to understand more about himself.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nam-sinh-huong-noi-va-hanh-trinh-gianh-tong-hoc-bong-hon-15-ty-dong-cua-my-20250728002841799.htm